Cindy’s Other Blog

My sons and I built this 6 shelf lazy susan pantry cabinet into the closet.

We bought two 4 by 8 foot by 3/4 inch oak panels, and cut each panel into four 2 by 4 foot pieces. We needed six pieces to make the six shelves. We cut them to fit inside the pantry closet by using our template as a guide.

We then marked the center of the door from the template onto one of the 2 by 4 foot plywood pieces. We used this point as the pivot point for the router to route out a 14.375 inch radius half circle out of the plywood. We then shortened the radius to 13.625 inches and routed the half circle again to make the half circle 3/4 of an inch smaller so that it would easily fit into the half circle of the back shelf.

We added a 1.5 by 1/4 inch oak lip around front of the back shelves and the half circle shelves so that food items would not fall off as the lazy susan is rotated.

We built the pivot post out of three 1 by 4 inch by 8 foot oak boards. These boards were glued together as a 3 by 3 inch post 8 foot long after they were plained and sanded. We drilled 5/8 inch holes in each end, 5 inches deep for the top and 3 inches deep for the bottom. We placed a 7 by 5/8 inch steel rod in the top hole and a 4 by 5/8 inch steel rod in the bottom hole. The lazy susan shelves pivot around these rods which are anchored to the inside wall of the pantry closet at the top by a pillow block bearing and in a thrust bearing on the floor at the bottom .

We mounted three 70 inch double track standard rails to the 3 X 3 post on three sides. We set three sets of 11 inch double track brackets on these rails for the half circle shelves to sit on. We cut a notch the size of the 3 X 3 post and rails into each half circle shelf so that they would fit easily around the pivot post.

I sanded, stained and varnished all the pieces for the lazy susan shelves. We set the back shelves in the closet and then mounted the pivot post in the thrust bearing on the floor and attached it to the wall with a 5/8 inch pillow block bearing. We then assembled the pantry closet by mounting the brackets and half shelves on the rails of the pivot post.

We tested the lazy susan to make sure it would rotate around the center post and not hit the back shelves. It worked and it is easy to get to all of the food items in the pantry including those items on the back shelf and all the items on the lazy susan swing out for easy access. My wife loves it and so do I.